page_title: Iconography of Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu
section_title: Gopuram
hierarchical_section_title: Iconography of Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu / Common Terminologies / Gopuram
caption_attribution_description: English: The gopuras of Arunchaleshvara Temple in Tiruvannamalai, India. Viewed in late-afternoon light from the roof of a nearby hotel. July 2008.
context_page_description: Iconography of Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu is governed by the Shaiva Agamas that revere the ultimate reality as the Hindu deity, Shiva. Āgama in the Hindu religious context means a traditional doctrine or system which commands faith. Temple worship according to Āgamic rules can be said to have started during the Pallava dynasty in South India, but they were fully under establishment during the Chola dynasty The temples during the Chola period expanded to Sri Lanka and islands in South East Asia. The temple complex was expanding with niches for various deities on the stipulated sides of the sanctum. Lingam was universalised and prakarams with subsequent deities came up. The temple parivara expanded considerably during the Chola period. The niches of following Āgamic rules for building Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu, a South Indian state continues even in the modern era. Some of the prime images like that of lingam, Vinayagar and Parvati are present in all the Shiva temples. Almost all the temples follow the same custom during festivals and worship methods with minor exceptions. Most of the Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka are built in Dravidian architecture.
context_section_description: A Gopuram or Gopura, is a monumental tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of any temple, especially in Southern India.  This forms a prominent feature of Koils, Hindu temples of the Dravidian architecture.  They are topped by the kalasam, a bulbous stone or metal finial. The gopurams function as gateways through the walls that surround the temple complex.
  The gopuram's origins can be traced back to early structures of the Pallava dynasty. By the twelfth century under the Pandya rulers these gateways became a dominant feature of a temple's outer appearance, eventually overshadowing the inner sanctuary obscured from view by the gopuram's colossal size. It also dominated the inner sanctum in amount of ornamentation. Often a shrine has more than one gopuram.  The gopuram raises from a square or rectangular granite or brick base to a pyramidal structure with multiple storeys.  A temple may have multiple gopurams, typically constructed into multiple walls in tiers around the main shrine.  Rajagopuram indicates the prime one of all the gopurams within the temple.  It is typically the most commonly used gateway and the tallest of all.
caption: Annamalaiyar Temple gopurams
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-H5", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:07:23 12:42:42", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2300", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7026", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4807", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/2000", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:07:23 12:42:42", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:07:23 12:42:42", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Flash", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "27/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "6874", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4128"}